The Best Cat Toys for Your Furry Friend (2025)

Cats are lovely, fascinating, bizarre creatures. They’re additionally very choosy. Discovering toys that they’re going to really play with is hard—particularly with the sheer oversaturation of the pet market in the present day. Cats require a specific environment to play, scratch, and chill out. Based mostly on years of testing with our cats, these are our favourite WIRED-approved, tech-y cat toys and scratchers. Even when our cats rejected a selected product, we nonetheless examined total development, design, and worth to find out whether or not it might be helpful for different kitties.

I am a helicopter cat mother specializing in pet tech, and all of those cat toys are accredited by each my and different staffers’ (very spoiled) WIRED cats. Try our associated guides like The Best Automatic Cat Litter Boxes, The Best Automatic Cat Feeders, The Best Cat Water Fountains, and Our Favorite Fancy Cat Furniture. Extra of a canine particular person? We have got you coated! See our Best Accessories and Tech Essentials for Your Dog information.

Up to date April 2025: We have overhauled this information for the present 12 months and added the Omlet Freestyle Indoor Cat Tree, Mau Kona Finish Desk Scratcher, Kong Kickeroo, Sofolor Interactive Cat Toy, Catstages Interactive Cat Deal with Puzzle, Silvervine Chew Sticks, Da Chook, Feather Mice, Tkenpro 2K Pet Digital camera Deal with Dispenser, and Enabot Rola PetPal Robotic Pet Companion. We have up to date costs all through.

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Discovering cat toys that your cat will really love could be very hit-or-miss. We love interactive toys—every little thing on this record are the toys that our cats really performed with. All the toys even have a component to assist interact their pure instincts to hunt prey, like a enjoyable kicker toy or a puzzle toy so your cat has to make use of their pecan-sized mind to get rewarded with scrumptious, smelly treats.

Cats like to leap and climb no matter they will, so a cat tree ought to assist maintain them occupied and off your mantel or breakable glassware. Our favourite cat timber are produced from supplies that may be scratched up, and our favourite window perch lets cats responsibly work together with the surface world. We even have a information to the fanciest cat furniture we’ve tried if you happen to actually need the complete scoop, however listed below are another notable favorites with regards to cat furnishings and toys:

A lick mat is a good way so as to add enrichment and stimulation—plus, it helps them promote gradual consuming (and fewer throwing up). I even have this set of two cute fish-shaped lick mats for every of my kitties, and it is a enjoyable strategy to give them a deal with whereas selling gradual feeding and stimulation. I put Churu purée with some added water to assist sneakily add extra hydration to their snacks.

Whenever you stay in a small house, every little thing you beautify with issues as a result of it is all on show—nothing will get hidden whenever you solely have one to 3 rooms. A few of us need our cat’s furnishings to match too. Mau’s Cat Tree is one in every of former reviewer Madea Giordano’s favorites. If you happen to can afford it, your cats will thanks.

Greater than only a cat tree, Freestyle enables you to customise your individual indoor or outside cat jungle health club from a sequence of bamboo platforms, beds, ramps, hammocks, and scratchers. The platforms are sturdy sufficient to help cats of any measurement or exercise degree, and the poles can accommodate ceilings as much as 14 ft. The system will not be cheap or particularly straightforward to place collectively, however my cats Circe and Scylla spend each single day on theirs, making it definitely worth the funding. —Kat Merck

Mau is thought for its high-end and tasteful cat furnishings (together with the Cento cat tree, above), and its new Kona facet desk suits proper into the lineup with a midcentury mod vibe and scratching pad discreetly tucked into the again. The solid-wood desk could be very heavy and properly made, with choices for an oak or walnut end. It didn’t dissuade my cats from scratching the chair it’s subsequent to, but it surely does include a bag of catnip to assist with encouragement. This desk is well-liked and infrequently offered out, however you’ll be able to enroll on Mau’s web site to be notified of the following restock. —Kat Merck

Former WIRED reviewer Medea Giordano liked these window seats as a result of they’re a good way for cats to bask within the solar and maintain a watchful eye on the neighborhood whereas safely indoors. They’re straightforward to put in too, with sticky strips that connect to your window sill that may maintain as much as 40 kilos. You too can nail the bottom into the window body, and there are even heated seats for super-spoiled kitties. The covers are detachable and may be machine-washed. Heads up, you will want a window sill at the least 2 inches deep to correctly help it.

If you cannot work out which form of toy your cats will like, otherwise you simply need them to be refreshed from time to time, Meowbox is a superb subscription. You’ll be able to select to get deliveries each one or two months, and so they embrace each treats and extremely cute toys with an equally cute theme. Plus, for each field offered, the corporate offers meals to a shelter. You’ll be able to see exactly where on its web site.

Former WIRED reviewer Medea Giordano’s cats additionally went nuts for this Ripple Rug. The underside piece stays in place whereas the highest may be configured into completely different shapes for enjoying (or looking), and you’ll reshape it as usually as you want. The fabric appears like felt however is produced from 24 post-consumer plastic bottles and may stand up to sharp claws.

All three of our cats love the Kong Kickeroo, and it has been one of the crucial long-lived cat toys we’ve got ever purchased. Bodhi is our eldest cat and infrequently performs with toys anymore, however even he can’t resist the Kickeroo. It’s the proper form to seize and claw at along with his again paws, and it has a tail, blended textures, and crinkly materials inside with a contact of catnip. We additionally tried the smaller mannequin, but it surely was rapidly chewed by, whereas the bigger one has lasted for years. —Simon Hill

My extraordinarily spoiled cats by no means work together with a toy for greater than 5 minutes, however they play with this interactive cat toy for hours on finish. It has three modes so cats by no means get bored: regular, lively, and interactive, and it shuts off routinely after a time period not getting used. It has a easy USB charger and a button that controls every little thing, plus it comes with a substitute wand in case your cats are as rough-and-tumble as mine. Though this is a little more than I prefer to spend on cat toys, it was the very best buy I’ve made this 12 months.

One in all my cats is a particularly clever, high-energy cat who’s additionally very meals motivated, so it’s a continuous problem to search out issues to maintain him entertained—to not point out, I even have to ensure he does not inhale his meals. With this toy, you’ll be able to cowl up the treats with the leaves or put them solely within the cups for an additional problem—I really like that this puzzle toy is completely customizable based mostly in your cat’s intelligence degree. I’ve each the Melon Insanity and Buggin’ Out fashions, and even years later, my cats are nonetheless entertained by them. I name {that a} good funding.

My overactive cat Basil is one in every of roughly 40 % of cats that do not react to catnip, which is a bummer as a result of he will get FOMO watching his sister go wild. Fortunately, each of my cats go loopy for these easy sticks. It helps them interact with pure kicking instincts and redirects aggressive chewing from my iPhone wire.

I’ve had seven cats over the previous 20 years, and each single one in every of them has been obsessive about this interactive toy. And never simply any wand toy, this one particularly and its unique feather attachment, which makes use of the identical swivel mechanism as a fishing lure to create motion by the air that registers as one hundred pc genuine to cats. There are different attachments out there, like fur “mice,” however nothing hits fairly like the unique feather cluster. Be sure you replenish on refills, in case your cat finds the wand in the course of the evening and has its means with it. (Talking from expertise.) —Kat Merck

Do you know there are “fowl” cats and “mouse” cats? Most cats really prefer to hunt specific types prey, and I’ve seen this play out in my very own home. Though they’re litter mates, one in every of my indoor cats clearly prefers to leap at flying issues (birds) and the opposite likes to cover and leap out at issues down low (mice). They each get pleasure from these toys—they’re fuzzy like mice however feathered like birds, with some catnip for added curiosity. I like to recommend placing them away when playtime is completed to maintain curiosity recent, and to take away the bell if you happen to don’t need to hear jingling in the course of the evening. —Kat Merck

This treat-dispensing pet cam has PTZ (pan-tilt-zoom) capabilities and crystal clear stay videofeed, and you’ll take photographs and document video from it. By way of the app, you’ll be able to pan the digicam almost 360 levels, pay attention to the goings-on whilst you’re away, and speak to your pet by the microphone. If simply being a safety digicam wasn’t sufficient, you can even schedule common feedings by the app or toss them a kibble snack everytime you really feel prefer it. Can we want to mix safety cameras and deal with dispensers? Why not?

Is it a toy? Is it a safety digicam? Is it a deal with dispenser? There is not any must resolve! Whereas my cats had been extra interested by it than excited to play with this li’l robotic, it did maintain their consideration, which is a win in my e-book. The app generally is a bit glitchy, and the robotic is under no circumstances sensible, however it’s a digicam you’ll be able to transfer about your own home whilst you’re away, and it will roll, slam into objects, and shoot treats out at your confused cats.

Different Necessities We Maintain Going Again To:

• The Chom Chom Roller Pet Hair Remover ($25) is universally beloved amongst all pet-owning WIRED reviewers. This nifty gadget makes it straightforward to de-fur just about any floor. We use them each single day. It is environment friendly, does not refill too rapidly, and emptying it takes simply seconds.
• Basepaws’ Breed + Health Cat DNA Test ($160) check tells you in case your cat is evident, a provider, in danger, or at excessive danger of quite a few metabolic, cardiovascular, eye, blood, endocrine, renal, autoimmune, pores and skin, musculoskeletal, and connective tissue problems, in addition to blood sort, transfusion danger, and different traits. Any cat can develop a illness or dental issues, however having a baseline can alleviate anxieties and empower you to work along with your vet to make the very best life decisions to your cat. —Louryn Strampe
• We love this fundamental however dependable stainless-steel Owala Pet Bowl ($30). Stainless-steel is far more hygienic than plastic, which might simply harbor dangerous micro organism and trigger issues like cat pimples.
• The Yeowww! Banana Catnip Toy ($9) has been the one most liked toy by all of former WIRED reviewer Medea Giordano’s cats.